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References: Isaiah 26: 6-9 / Rom 8: 14-23 / Matt 5: 1-12
The reading from Isaiah this evening was written in some pretty tough times. The people were living in affluence but it didn’t satisfy. Everything else failed to satisfy – especially for people who were thoughtful and were faithful to God and to God’s way. Those who were faithful seemed to be losing out. Everyone was doing their own thing. Isaiah was trying to bring them back to faithfulness to God’s way. He was promising that though they couldn’t see the future clearly they should operate by faith and the end product would be satisfying: “On this mountain the Lord of Hosts will provide for all peoples…The Lord will wipe away all the tears from all faces… let us rejoice and be glad…”
This evening as we celebrate our farewell from your life’s partner, your dad, your grandfather, our brother and our friend, we keep our eyes focused on the larger picture and we see this moment not as sorrow, but a temporary sadness, the sadness of parting, a sadness that has been long in coming – a sadness mixed with the joy that Lewis has now finished this phase of his life. Lewis has completed his earthly life and has gone on ahead of us meet with the Lord, there to be in joy forever.
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In the second reading tonight (Romans 8: 14-23) we heard these words: “I consider the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us… We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves… also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” In these last couple of years, Lewis has been in the same struggle that all creation is feeling and that we ourselves are part of. For Lewis the struggle is over and he is now in the loving presence of our Lord. This is good.
The pain and uncertainty we felt for him has now ended. We rejoice in the insight St. Paul has given us in his letter to the Romans. We are grateful that Lewis has successfully completed his mortal journey and is now with Jesus Christ in eternity where time is no more – only that endless present existence there with the source of all that is good and true and beautiful.
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The Gospel we chose is from what is called The Beatitudes (sayings about being fortunate, and happy and about the blessing that flows from oneness with God in faith, in deeds and in love.)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the land;
Blessed are they who are merciful for they will be shown mercy;
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied;
Blessed are the clean of heart for they will see God;
Blessed are the peace makers for they will be called the children of God.
Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”
We are not here to proclaim Lewis to a saint in a formal sense, but to celebrate the way of life he pursued. You can see evidence of this in the way he lived, in his love for Rosalie, in his steady love for his children and grandchildren, in his love for his mom and dad, in his love for his brothers and sisters, and in the kindly way he mingled with his fellow Christians in his life at church. I always knew him in his gentle presence, in his easy smile, in his thoughtful and kind words and in his laughter. He was a man of faith – faith that he learned from his mom and dad, a faith which he brought with him into the life of St. Henry parish.
Those beatitudes are the keynotes of the life of a person moved by their faith. They are descriptive of the life and conduct of every disciple of Jesus. For Matthew they are nails on which to hang the many facets of his description of the authentic follower of Jesus. For us they are the keynotes of our lives as Christians. Those verses have given us the criteria, not for judging others, but for judging our own faith and our own conduct, for we are not to judge others, but to open our selves to growing ever more deeply as disciples of Jesus.
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Use this time of reflection and celebration as a time to see things more clearly and to hold on to true life more firmly. Choose those things we saw more clearly because of the love Lewis gave us and showed us. Times like this, this evening, are the times we think about what is really important. In celebrating his life, we are more fundamentally celebrating the goodness Christ gave each of us. Lewis’s life will always have the power to point those of us who knew him, toward the more abundant life Jesus wanted all of us to have.
There used to be a saying that “if you become a saint by the day you die, you will have done well.” Lewis was a man of flesh and bones. Those who knew him have seen him grow and become more and more what Christ wanted for him. We who knew him can take his example as one who continued to grow throughout his years of becoming all Christ wanted for him. We can take courage from Lewis and do as he did.
We celebrate that he was a man of faith who grew into what Jesus gave his life for. We take courage for ourselves as we then walk the pathway he walked. We remember him with gratitude and joy and in anticipation of being with him in Christ in eternity. May he rest in peace.
Father who made us, unto your mercy which is beyond all telling, and unto your love which is the last good answer to the deepest longing of our hearts, we commend the life of Lewis Jarvis, your servant, who has left us, for a time but not forever. We ask you to hear our prayer as we speak in sorrow but also in faith. Lord our God, may he who used your gift of life to share it with others, now enter upon the more abundant life that Jesus promised. May he who bore witness to your love and faithfulness, your truth and goodness, now enter upon the reward that is promised those who are just and share the victory of our brother Jesus Christ. Bring him, Lord, to the light that will never know darkness, to the joy that will never know pain, to the reunion that shall never be ended, bring him to the contentment that will never weary or cease to delight, to the fullness and possession of all those good things with which you began to bless him in life.
Forgive any weakness that may have been a sign of human frailty. Accept him as one of the joyous company redeemed by Jesus Christ. Admit him to the joy of which the Holy Spirit said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into our heart to know the things the Father has prepared for those who love him.”
O Lord our God, may he who was yours in faith now enter upon the Kingdom. May your servant, Lewis, who gave us of his life and labor and love, find a place at the banquet table where you are the bridegroom and we are your beloved. We give to you, in Christian faith and human sorrow, the one you gave to us, the one we have been glad to know as husband, dad, grandfather, brother, neighbor and friend. We thank you for the gift of his life. And with your help we lift our eyes from the sorrow of this moment, upward to our future with you, when you will wipe all tears from our eyes.
An Israeli doctor says ‘Medicine in my country is so advanced that we
can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him
looking for work in six weeks.’
A German doctor says ‘That is nothing; we can take a lung out of one
person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four
weeks.’
A Russian doctor says ‘In my country, medicine is so advanced that we
can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have
them both looking for work in two weeks.’
An ILLINOIS doctor, not to be outdone, says ‘You guys are way behind,
we recently took a man out of Illinois with half a brain, put him in
the White House for three months, and now HALF THE WORLD is looking
for work.
who will jink or gee or haw…
or rage against a fish-hooked maw?
push a button, turn a crank;
live your life to Hoobastank.
beauty fades…
attractions wane…
broken crayons…
much the same…
ancient pumps still lube a crane…
decrepit is thy middle name.
who may live and who may die?
every man may wonder why.
kick a cog and twist a wrist;
grip your dragons in your fists.
build a bridge to pull it down
wasted labors may abound.
but what’s it matter in the end?
ash to flesh then ash again.
T is for TCN
For those of you that don’t know, TCN stands for Third Country National. It’s also a fancy term for indentured servant. Typically, TCNs are from third world countries and are usually brought in to perform menial tasks that are beneath the host country inhabitants to perform. Usually, these are in the form of building something or digging some hole or the ever popular leaky sewage truck detail (LSTD). I’m sure LSTD is the most favored of duties amongst the TCN crowd because it allows them the chance to spew their frustrations all over the local roadways and the cars that follow too close. To illustrate this point, I’m currently afraid to touch the outer portion of my car for fear of contracting hepatitis.
Now, if you’re wondering how you might discern a TCN from any other person you shouldn’t. It is easy. All TCNs are required to wear what we lovingly refer to as the “TCN One Piece.” It is rather close to prison garb, but in the hue of blue. Since everything here is so brown, blue provides the perfect contrast to keep them from escaping. Correct sizing seems to be a bit of an issue though; the TCN One Piece comes only in two sizes, small and small. Whether six feet or five or four and a half, a TCN will cram himself into the same blue jumpsuit that will define his role in society for the days and months to come.
Now, for any rational person to put up with this amount of degradation they better be getting a pretty penny. Most TCNs make about 5 dollars a day and get one day off a month. They live in large rooms with a bunch of their best TCN buddies and share blankets and beds with each other. Eventually they’ll have saved enough money to make their way back to Sri Lanka or the Philippines (the two most popular TCN points or origin and return) and share their new fortunes with their loved ones.
Every now and then, you’ll run into some TCNs on a personal basis. When you arrive to Qatar, you have to process at the Medical Review Commission to evaluate if you have Jake Leg or TB of some sort. Since everyone has to do this, it’s an excellent opportunity to see TCNs in action. At the Clinic there are two sides: a TCN side and the side for everyone else. This is great for the TCNs since they can stick together and share stories like the one about the man that pushed them in the face for having all the correct paperwork in the improper order. They might also have stories about the compassionate phlebotomist with a needle the size of a BIC pen or the friendly X-Ray Technician who forcibly removes their shirts for them.
TCNs love some shade. They’re pretty good about inventing shade as well. With just a few barrels and some old metal pieces you can have a pretty nice little shaded area. I’ll tell my favorite shade story. I was driving to work the other day around 11 AM. About that time of day it’s getting pretty close to what I call “getting a little warm out” or 130 degrees F. There was an accident at the next roundabout, so traffic had effectively stopped. While I was sitting there I noticed to my right there was a group of TCNs huddled together in the shade of a road sign. It was a pretty big road sign that had made a shade square about 10 ft by 10 ft. Being all good friends, of course, they managed to cram about 12 guys in the shade. Now, as the minutes went by, the sun rose higher in the sky and the shade square became a little more rectangular. Eventually, it came to a point that some of the TCNs’ feet were hanging out of the shade. When this happened they all got up and reshuffled, so the guys on the interior of the shade went to warm their feet up while the guys with smoking shoes could cool theirs off a little. By this time I was getting a little chilly, but traffic started to clear and I drove off, turning the AC knob in my car down to two.
Forever Humbled,
Hippo Jr.
Dear Mr. Hippo,
I am very sorry I dropped you on the floor last night, breaking your ear off in the process. I SAID, “I AM SORRY ABOUT YOUR EAR!”
I accept full responsibility for this tragedy. Even though Mandy asked me to pick you up from your safe perch on the coffee table and even though I clearly placed you in her hand, I should not have listened to her. This is a lot like when we were in traffic yesterday, and she advised me to drive straight ahead even though I knew where I was going. What was I thinking? I was in control, I had a choice to make, and I made the wrong one. Strike one.
I knew you were safer on the table, but I pushed the edge of reason and now you must pay the price for my bad judgment. Strike two.
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…I am very sorry.
Perhaps it will cheer you to consider that your ears are not your most prominent feature. Indeed, your overall roundness offers the greatest appeal, and despite your newfound hearing impairment, your roundness retains all its glory.
As a small token, I’ve drawn a picture of you from memory. This is how you looked when you first arrived home. You have two ears in this photo and in my memory. As long as we still remember what your ear looked like, it is not really gone. Plus, there is still hope that we’ll find your missing ear (that is not really gone at all) when we sweep under the couch.
Mandy says that your eyes are too sad in my drawing, but I’ve stopped listening to her for one week in honor of your ear. Eventually, I may explain to her about the sadness a lost ear must bring and how that sadness must certainly be reflected most noticeably in your eyes. Of course, she is not a hippo and doesn’t understand you as I do, so perhaps we should give her a break on that.
In closing, please let me assure you, there won’t be a strike three. I’ve placed you on the mantle over the fireplace, safe from stubby little fingers that don’t properly grasp delicate-eared carvings. You will be safe as long as the heat from the fire doesn’t negatively impact your tagua nut constitution, and since it is almost spring you really shouldn’t worry yourself about that.
Apologetically yours,
Steve
